The Italian government has sided with cruise ship owner Costa Crociere and selected its home base of Genoa as the port where the crippled Costa Concordia ship will be dismantled for scrap.

The Tuscan port of Piombino had hoped to win the contract, given the jobs that would be created. But Costa, the consortium handling the project and several ministries said Genoa's port was better suited. Premier Matteo Renzi said Monday the government agreed.

This is a good thing as it will obviate the long and possibly dangerous journey all the way to India. The ship could have broken apart along the way.

What a sad ending for what was a state of the art modern cruise ship. This is one cruise event memory that will never go away.